High Court confirms life sentence for Solapur man who murdered wife

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has upheld the life sentence awarded to a man for strangulating his wife six years ago.

“Prosecution has proved the motive. Moreover, there is no medical evidence to show that the victim could have died due to natural causes,” said the division bench headed by Justice Vijaya Tahilramani while dismissing the appeal filed by Uttareshwar Ramchandra Devkar, the convict.

A Solapur court had on January 30, 2010 convicted Devkar and sentenced him to life imprisonment for murdering his wife Vandana.

According to the prosecution, Devkar often beat his wife because she objected to his illicit relations with other women.

Six years ago, Vandana left him after he beat her and went to live with her parents. On June 9, 2009, Devkar persuaded her to return by tendering an apology.

The very next day, he strangulated her with a towel. He then took her body to her parents’ house and told them that she had fallen down from a cot. They took her to a hospital where she was declared dead. The autopsy showed that she died because of strangulation.

The HC held that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.